I recently had my daughter's 8th birthday party. She wanted to have a Cheetah Girls party. I thought, OK great. That should be easy. It was much harder than I thought! I couldn't find any Cheetah Girls party supplies, so I decided to improvise.

1. First on the list, invitations. I had a hard time finding invitations, so I created my own (I have them available for auction if you're interested). I think the girls really enjoyed getting customized invitations with my daughter's name on it. There are several people on eBay selling some really great personalized invitations - check them out!

2. Next, party bags and favors. Again, there was no Cheetah Girls stuff out there, so again, I improvised. I found anything with a cheetah or safari pattern on it - CD case holders from the dollar store, animal print sunglasses, animal print notepads, etc. (I have some animal print party favors for auction if you're interested). I ordered Cheetah Girls customized party boxes from a woman on eBay (they were tremendous). The girls LOVED the boxes and all of the goodies inside!

3. Third, decorations. I really didn't go all out on the decorations. There are tons of jungle, safari, and animal print themed party supplies out there. I found animal print balloons and took them to my local Acme grocery store - they blew them up for a really cheap price. The balloons were a huge hit at the party and each girl took one home!

4. Next, food. We held the party on a Friday night, so I just ordered five pizzas and had lots of snacks for the kids. Pizza always goes over well.

5. As for entertainment, we held a Cheetah Girls dance party. My daughter put her Cheetah Girls CD on the stereo and the girls just danced the night away. I had special prizes for the winners of the dance contest. I let the parents who stayed for the party vote on the best dancers. It really was a trip - the girls thought they were dancing on American Idol or something.

6. Next, photo ops. I had each girl pose for a picture. Some of the girls were all dressed in their Cheetah Girls outfits or some other wild and crazy outfit. They really looked cute. I used my digital camera and used the photos to customize the girls' thank you cards. Everyone thought it was so cool to get a thank you card in the mail with their own photo on it. What a great memory to keep of the Cheetah Girls party!

Now that the party's over, you ask: would you do it again? Absolutely. It really was fun planning a Cheetah Girls party. It was a challenge, but one that I'm glad that I took on because my daughter had her BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!